


Chasing Lilacs

by twoheartsx



Series: Gardens to burn and grow [2]
Category: Lore Olympus (Webcomic)
Genre: Engagement, F/M, Implied Sexual Content, Implied/Referenced Cheating, Implied/Referenced Rape/Non-con, Psychological Trauma, Rise of the Dread Queen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-19
Updated: 2020-05-19
Packaged: 2021-03-03 01:34:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,544
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24266713
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/twoheartsx/pseuds/twoheartsx
Summary: Hera tells Persephone a story about how she learned that choosing the light sometimes hurts.
Relationships: Hades/Persephone (Lore Olympus), Mentioned!Hera/Zeus (Lore Olympus), mentioned!Aphrodite/Ares (Lore Olympus)
Series: Gardens to burn and grow [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1751686
Comments: 4
Kudos: 61





	Chasing Lilacs

**Author's Note:**

> I have fallen into this hole and I have more fics planned. Dread Queen Persephone has me feeling some way.

Ever since Persephone was young she was told to stay to the light. The warm sun on her skin. She was to walk a pure path. It was before she had earned the name Persephone, when she was still Kore. Kore, the maiden which would be renamed Persephone, bringer of death. A drastic name change that didn’t fit with the light or the pure path. A name befitting of her current state. Where bright white once sat now dark black. Her hair long, Kore always wore it short, Persephone was always a little in between. She let it be long for the thrill of having it pulled during intercourse with her king or to allow him to play with it once he’s satisfied with the heat between her legs. The thought of it alone sent a blush to her cheeks. 

Kore, had always been innocent. A little village girl raised to be pure. To keep her legs closed and her innocence in place. Looking back Persephone could call little Kore a fool. Too trusting and too scared to speak her mind. Her mother’s sharp words caused her to cower. No more did she have to deal with that. Persephone made others cower, she was done bowing for others. 

Persephone was a cocktail of things. She was innocent, trusting, hurt. In just that order. She’s been innocent, bordering on still being little village girl Kore. She’d been trusting, that small part of her still the girl her mom sheltered. She’d been hurt, the girl she was slowly dying. Her innocence was torn from her by a wicked man who didn’t care how she cried. He didn’t care how he humiliated her or the things he drove her to feel. Anger and rage settled in her blood and became her closest ally. She carried it with her scars straight into the arms of death. 

Death; personified, had been so kind. From the moment they met till this moment. He held her gently, covered his mouth with hers, whispering promises of love and revenge. The mix of pure love and boiling anger made Persephone understand a bit easier just how the goddess of love shared her bed with the god of war. Because there was a thin line between hate and love. She hated the sun god for ripping her innocence away and mocking her. She loved the god of death for cherishing her and caring for her. She gave what remained of her innocence to the god of death and laid Kore to rest. 

“You seem deep in thought.” Hera said from behind her. She was braiding Persephone’s hair, twisting flowers into the soft pink locks. Persephone watched her from the mirror, her expression neutral. She didn’t look like a girl about to attend a party in her honor. 

“Just thinking about how I ended up here.” Persephone replied, smiling softly as she went back to brushing makeup onto her face. The soft tickle of the brush against her cheek bone felt strange. 

“In general or with me tangling flowers in your hair?” Hera asked. Her tone is soft. It was a softness rarely heard from the goddess. She was usually angry. Her husband's countless infidelities drove her to be bitter. Persephone hopes she wouldn’t end up like that, bitter and at odds with her husband. When she finally married him. The ring on her finger felt heavy at that thought. She was engaged and it wouldn’t be long. 

“In general.” She answered, looking down at the ring in her finger. A silver band with a black diamond set in the middle. The edges of the ring gave off a blue hint. 

“When I was your age I was given the choice between staying in the light or sleeping in the dark.” Hera started. It was a tale she’d wanted to tell. She didn’t think anyone would really understand. Maybe even Persephone wouldn’t. 

“I’m guessing you choose the light.” Persephone answered. She was sure her fiancé was the darkness Hera was talking about. Her mother would be cross when word got back. Persephone was sure she’d march down here to fight her on this. Talk her out of it and try to drag her home. It wasn’t her home anymore. 

“I did. I was scared of what the dark would hold.” Hera replied. She knew that many didn’t think she’d feel much fear. She seemed fearless. “Plus, the light was such a smooth talker. I was weak.” 

“Those are the ones you have to watch out for.” Persephone replied with a sad smile. Hera sighed and nodded her head. She finished fixing the young goddesses hair. 

“We both know what the light, more specifically the sun, can do.” Hera placed her hands on Persephone’s shoulders, admiring how beautiful the girl was. She was so proud of how far she’d come. 

“I didn’t even choose the sun, and yet I ended up burnt.” Persephone frowned as she said it. The lingering memories, the phantom touch. It hung onto her. 

“It’s unfair what he did to you.” Hera avoided saying his name. She wasn’t sure if Persephone could bear to hear it. “I’m sorry.” 

“It isn’t your fault. He made his choice.” Persephone replied, forcing herself to smile. In making his choice, he’d altered hers. 

“He will suffer for it.” Hera said. She didn’t know how and it wasn’t her place to serve justice. That was Persephone’s pain to be paid for. 

“He will.” Persephone could imagine his screams, the fear in his eyes. She wanted it, longed for it. “I’ll serve my own form of justice.” 

“I know you will.” Hera smiled softly and took Persephone’s face between her hands. “I’m so happy Aidoneus has you to be his queen.” 

“I just hope he doesn’t regret it.” Persephone replied, smiling as her cheeks heated up with a blush. 

“He’s never looked at anyone like he does you.” Hera replied. At one time that would have made her heart ache with jealousy. Jealousy that she wouldn’t get that look from him. Now a different type settled in her veins. Jealousy that she’d never be loved the way Persephone was. She wanted anything better than what she currently had. She’d keep her husband and hope his ways would change. She knew they wouldn’t. 

“I never imagined I would be someone’s bride let alone the queen of the underworld.” Persephone always thought her life was planned out for her. She’d become a maiden like her mother wanted. She’d stay pure. 

“It was always your destiny. As you know now, the Fates have foreseen it for a long time.” Hera smiled softly. When she first met little Kore she never imagined that she would one day marry Hades. She remembered the day of the party when little Kore said she wanted to be a beautiful queen too. Hera made her a crown and then let the little girl cling to her all night as they made their way through the party. Now that cute little girl was grown into a beautiful woman who was preparing to take the throne of the underworld. 

“Mortals have a tradition or so I’ve heard of saving themselves till marriage.” Persephone had heard about it many times. She’d read about it in books. She watched as Hera smiled and laughed a little. 

“At one time yes. That was long ago though.” Hera couldn’t remember the last time she heard a mortal following that. She knew some still did, but it was mostly a thing of the past. 

“I couldn’t wait. It might sound weird to me, but I couldn’t keep myself from Hades body for that long.” Persephone felt her cheeks heat up as her own words. She hadn’t admitted it aloud to anyone before. Now deep her desire for her husband to be was. 

“You shouldn’t have to.” Hera replied. She knew when she was Persephone’s age she was the same. Tumbling in fields with Zeus and laughing as he placed kisses over her body. 

“Now you sound like Aphrodite.” Persephone laughed, shaking her head. Hera moved to pick up the flower crown. It was black and red roses with a few spikes in the middle.

“How so?” Hera asked as she gently placed it on Persephone’s head. 

“She said as a fertility goddess I shouldn’t deny myself the basic pleasures.” Persephone blushed deeper at the memory. Her and Eros were both so over the top about that stuff, she was always embarrassed. 

“Of course she said that.” Hera sighed, smiling at how beautiful her brother in laws soon to be wife looked. “But she is right. You should enjoy your nature to the fullest.” 

“Would it be crude to say I have?” Persephone asked, smiling. She couldn’t believe how confident she’d gotten. At one time she couldn’t imagine being so honest about what happens in her bed. She could almost hear Eros cheering her on. 

“It would be bold to say, but I’m happy that you are.” Hera laughed. She walked past Persephone. 

“We should get to the party. You mustn’t keep your husband to be waiting.” Hera said, watching as Persephone followed her. Tonight they celebrate her engagement and her choice, to not be ruled by anyone and instead to be the ruler.


End file.
